How does the L16 work?

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A revolutionary optics architecture

We redesigned the camera with you in mind.

The L16 replaces the bulk and weight of a traditional single-lens camera with many small lenses and sensors that lie at 45-degree angles across a flat plane. When the L16 is fired, light enters 10 or more apertures. Using folded optics, the L16 bounces this light off periscopic mirrors, through horizontal lens barrels and onto individual optical sensors. The result is one exquisite 52MP photo, formed from 10+ slightly different perspectives.

Ten quality images fused together

When the L16 takes a picture, 10 or more cameras fire simultaneously, capturing slightly different perspectives of the same scene. The L16 intelligently chooses a combination of its 28mm, 70mm, and 150mm modules to use in each shot, depending on the level of zoom. These individual shots are then computationally fused together to create an incredibly high-resolution 52MP photograph.

When the L16 takes a picture, 10 or more cameras fire simultaneously, capturing slightly different perspectives of the same scene. The L16 intelligently chooses a combination of its 28mm, 70mm, and 150mm modules to use in each shot, depending on the level of zoom. These individual shots are then computationally fused together to create an incredibly high-resolution 52MP photograph.

Scene

5x28mm

5x70mm

Fusion

28mm

28mm

28mm

28mm

28mm

70mm

70mm

70mm

70mm

70mm

" What's radical about the L16 is that it makes camera software as important as the hardware. "

- Wall Street Journal

5x Continuous Optical Zoom

The L16’s robust optical engine allows you to zoom continuously from 28mm to 150mm with outstanding detail at every focal length. As you zoom in or out, the L16 intelligently chooses the best combination of 28mm, 70mm, and 150mm camera modules for your scene, adjusting its mirrors to support various fields of view. When a scene is captured, sophisticated algorithms overlay exposures from higher focal lengths (i.e. 70mm) on top of those from lower focal lengths (i.e. 28mm), producing a photo with exceptional quality and detail throughout.

28mm

150mm

28mm

No limits to your creativity

The L16 captures so much data with every shot, it generates a 3D depth map of the scene. All of this extra information enables a radical new kind of photo editing: the ability to adjust depth of field and focal plane after the shot. Noise reduction is just an added perk of using ten cameras at once.